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A Chinese developer has been given prime peri-urban land to build luxury homes for top ZANU PF officials on a farm seized from a white commercial farmer. The exclusive homes will be built on 120 hectares of land set on Pangoula Farm, following a deal signed last year by Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and Chinese firm Zim Guoji, the South African Mail & Guardian reported Friday. The farm, Pangoula of Sternblick, was gazetted for forcible takeover from its owners in 2003, according to farmers’ rights group Justice for Agriculture. A statement posted on the Chinese firm’s website describes the deal as the “Fairytale of Pangoula”.“Have you ever been to a place that you are indulged in with pleasure so much as to forget to leave? Pangoula, located in east of Harare, used to be part of Sternblick Farm owned by a white farmer and was changed into state land last year.” The statement continues: “Pangoula is 15 minutes drive from the CBD of Harare. It is adjacent to an emerging high-end residential community in Harare, the Shawasha Hills, which is composed of hundreds of villas and mansions with gorgeous landscapes.“The place accommodates the majority of political VIPs and wealthy merchants. Pangoula Farm whose terrain features hills of gentle slopes has two manmade reservoirs and a creek that can be used for landscaping.“The farm retains several residences of the former owner as well as some agricultural buildings such as a crocodile farm, a chicken farm and green houses.” Dispossessed white farmers were never compensated for either the land or improvements on it, contrary to ZANU PF claims. The secret deal did not go to tender, and ZANU PF officials would not reveal to the Mail&Guardian the value of the contract or who the beneficiaries will be.“There is no indication of how much Guoji will get for the deal, or how much the VIPs will have to pay for the properties. But estate agents say prime plots of land in the adjacent Shawasha Hills, one of Harare’s wealthiest enclaves, sell for more than $100,000,” the M&G report said. The development will be in phases starting mid-year, and already senior officials have reportedly expressed strong interest for stands. The upmarket development will boast its own kindergarten, hospital, church, and a shopping centre. Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni told SW Radio Africa said he needed time to check his facts before he can comment. Harare Residents Trust director Precious Shumba said the housing deal signed by Minister Chombo “favoured the rich and the powerful.”“There are more people in need of basic housing in the high density areas. The Harare City Council has a long housing list of people who have never owned a house of their own and those who are lodgers.” Shumba said the presence of the Chinese in the country has so far been to prop up the rich, to the exclusion of the deserving poor. “We would appreciate the Chinese’s involvement in development projects such as building flats for the poor. We have people living in deplorable and crowded conditions in Chizhanje and Majubheki in Mbare or Geneva in Highfields where women, men and children share one room.” Shumba said the priorities for the government should be delivering affordable homes to the majority of the city dwellers rather than spending resources on luxury dwellings for its top officials, who already owned multiple properties. Responding to suggestions that the Zim Guoji deal did not go through the normal tender process, Shumba said this was the norm where the Chinese are involved. “We have realised that with the Chinese there are a lot of secret deals that are kept out of the eyes of interested parties such as civil society groups and the media.“The exclusion of these key groups that facilitates the continued systematic stripping of the country’s assets and tying them to the Chinese through land and mineral deals as we have seen over the years,” Shumba added. This is the second major deal signed between Chombo and Guoji. According to the Mail&Guardian, last year Chombo gave the company another contract to build 10,000 low-cost homes at an unnamed location in Harare. A statement on the Chinese company’s website mentions a joint venture involving Retreat Farm in the south of Harare, west of the Seke Road. ZANU PF’s chaotic and often violent land seizures started in 1999, targeting white commercial farmers. The few who remained on the land continue to face threats and uncertainty, amid fresh farm seizures.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

War vets in Shurugwi have clashed with a Chinese company over gold claims, which the Chinese say they bought from another foreign businessman. According to reports Jin Yang Africa (Private) Ltd purchased over 140 claims at Bonza Gold Mine in Shurugwi from Francis Bester. The dispute arose after the Chinese evicted four war vets from some parts of the mining claim that had access to a lode of gold. A Monday NewsDay report said government officials moved in to solve the squabble between the Chinese and the MECA Syndicate, which is the operating name of the four war vets. According to the report the Chinese company was told that it must give 51% percent shares of the company to the war vets in line with Zimbabwe’s indigenisation and empowerment laws. It was also resolved that the war vets should continue to operate on the land until the matter was finalized. Bester was urged to surrender all the land he was not working on. Commercial Framers Union President Charles Taffs said, as long as there is ‘no clarity on the land ownership such clashes are bound to occur.’ Taffs added: ‘This problem is not just in the mining sector; it is also in the agricultural sector.’‘In my sector it is even affecting production because everyone operates with the fear that anytime they can be evicted. The government needs to listen and take advice so that we can move forward.’ On seizing the land government just parceled out pieces of it to its cronies but the white farmers retained the title deed, a legal document that entitled them to the land. Since then the ownership has been a serious problem as no one knows who is legally entitled to what. The government has previously announced handing out some 99 year leases to some farmers but they have found it difficult to obtain bank loans because the leases show that the land officially belongs to the state. Banks won’t lend to borrowers with no collateral back up for the loan.

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Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has attacked the ZBC, saying the national broadcaster is failing to move with the times due to a combination of corruption and incompetence. Moyo delivered the attack in Bulawayo at a meeting during which he also called on the Diaspora community to contribute towards the country’s development. Reports said Moyo told the Bulawayo Press Club Thursday that the government was drawing up a raft of policies to attract skilled Zimbabweans back into the country. Responding to a question on the national broadcaster’s failure to pay workers Moyo accused the workers of squandering licence fees and of abusing the equipment on private business instead of producing a quality product. He said an audit has so far revealed that some workers issued fake listeners’ licences and then ‘pocketed’ the fees. Moyo said ZBC workers should not ‘expect to be paid for stealing.’ The minister scoffed at the national broadcaster for producing programmes which he said, ‘nobody neither wants to hear or watch.’ Moyo also urged ZBC to abandon old material such as the Hondo Yeminda (Land War) musical programmes which the national broadcaster used to try and ratchet up support for the land grab exercise. Moyo’s comments will have come as a surprise to the media community as many associate the state of affairs at the national broadcaster with his earlier stewardship. Most of the Hondo Yeminda jingles were adaptations of liberation war and folklore songs, reproduced and aired under his instruction. After Moyo was fired as information minister in 2004 the ZBC continued to air some of the jingles until his reappointment last year. Between 2000 and 2004 Moyo terrorized journalists in the state media by either dictating content to them or hounding them out of their jobs. Former ZBC Bulawayo bureau chief, Tapfuma Machakaire, has previously accused Moyo of ‘killing the ZBC.’ In his 2012 memoir titled, Nose for News, which was launched at the same venue where Moyo was speaking Thursday, Machakaire said the minister ‘discouraged advertisers’ something which led to a fall in revenue. As a result, Machakaire wrote, the national broadcaster lost most of its skilled workers with some of them skipping the country into the Diaspora. Moyo’s attack on the ZBC follow recent revelations that senior managers were earning ‘corrupt salaries’ with the CEO, Happison Muchechetere, said to have been taking home as much as $40,000 per month. Moyo later forced Muchechetere on unpaid leave and fired the ZBC board. During the Bulawayo meeting Moyo claimed that these decisions were taken on the advice of the cabinet and President Mugabe.

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Zimbabwe’s national disaster management group has denied claims that ‘thousands’ of people have lost their lives in the serious flooding that hit the country in recent weeks. The claims are being investigated by the South African disaster relief group, Gift of the Givers, which said Friday that it was trying to gather as much information as possible about the flooding situation. The group said that it had received credible information that 10,000 people had drowned and 50,000 people had been affected and were in need of support. But the state’s Civil Protection Unit (CPU) dismissed these claims when contacted by SW Radio Africa on Friday. Director Madzudzo Pawadyira said during a brief telephone call that “the total number of people who have died across the country is no more than five.” He also said the people classed as ‘immediately at risk’ as a result of flooding was 2,514. But Gift of the Givers founder and director Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman told SW Radio Africa that the reports they received came from a credible, influential source “and could not be ignored.”“That information came from a very high source in the country, someone linked to the highest office in the land, who spoke to a journalist friend of mine who is very credible and who wouldn’t lie. The journalist said they know the person so well and they wouldn’t lie either, and that person says 10,000 people have drowned, bodies are floating in the water and the country is in a terrible situation and help is needed,” Sooliman said. He acknowledged that contradictory information was coming out of the country, with numerous conflicting reports circulating about how many people have been affected. “The situation is so confusing that we don’t know what to believe. In the meantime people need help. We need to have correct information so we know how to respond,” Sooliman said. He went on to query the government request for 150,000 tons of food aid, an amount that could feed millions of people and not the thousands the state says need assistance. Gift of the Givers questioned: “Is there something more serious going on in Zimbabwe that requires food aid unrelated to the floods, or are the floods and those affected extensively greater than what is being presented?” Observers have also questioned the reason for the government’s appeals for money and food, with some arguing that the flood crisis presents the ZANU PF government with another pot to steal from. The government has launched an appeal for US$20 million from donor organisations and the international community, focusing mainly on the plight of the Tokwe-Mukosi families, who were evacuated from the dam area at the height of the flooding. An estimated 3,000 people were relocated from the Tokwe-Mukosi dam flood basin to the Chingwizi holding camp in Mwenezi. Meanwhile according to the group ActionAid Zimbabwe an additional 1,499 households comprising 6,895 people have been affected by the floods in Mbire, Mashonaland Central. The group has claimed that a total of six people are said to have died there. Gift of the Givers is appealing for more information in order to adequately and swiftly respond to the needs of those affected by the flooding. More information can be found via their website .

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The deputy treasurer-general of the MDC-T, Elton Mangoma, was on Friday suspended by the party for ‘provoking divisions and bringing the movement into disrepute’. He will now face a disciplinary tribunal to be set up next week. This is the first time since the formation of the MDC that a member of the standing committee has been suspended. But Mangoma’s suspension might ignite the slow-burning crisis in the MDC-T as other members are agitating for a split. At the heart of complaints from Mangoma’s camp is the alleged authoritarianism within the party, that has seen party leader Morgan Tsvangirai refusing to step down. Following a meeting of the party’s National Council at Harvest House, Mangoma faced a backlash from visibly angry members drawn from across the country. Party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said a motion to suspend Mangoma was unanimously agreed by all the 12 provinces, including the women and youth leagues. Mangoma attended the national council meeting, the first by the decision making body of the party this year. He was asked to excuse himself when members were told to deliberate and vote on his fate. There were attempts by Mangoma’s lawyer to seek an injunction to stop any discussion on Mangoma’s fate at the meeting. It appears the move failed. This time there was no violence as police kept a close eye on events outside the party headquarters. There was however a demonstration believed to have been organized by members from Mangoma’s camp. The demonstrators called on the party to respect the constitution and to stop the violence. Other placards were critical of the organizing secretary Nelson Chamisa, seen as a major stumbling block in all efforts by the other faction in their attempts to oust Tsvangirai. Despite earlier assumptions by the Mangoma camp that Tsvangirai would not garner enough votes to take action against the former MP, it must have come as a surprise to realize there were no dissenting voices during the vote. Mwonzora told SW Radio Africa that Mangoma will face four charges during his disciplinary hearing. The tribunal will be made up of three independent lawyers, one of which should be a qualified judge of the High court. The four charges slapped on Mangoma are; undermining and bringing the party into disrepute, organizing factional meetings, disrespecting party organs, especially members of the standing committee, national executive and national council, and undermining the relationship between the MDC and its strategic partners. ‘Mangoma is now automatically suspended as deputy treasurer-general, pending an appearance before an independent tribunal. The party will meet next week to decide on the names of the team that will look into Mangoma’s case,’ Mwonzora said. Journalist and analyst Itai Dzamara said he did not see Mangoma surviving Friday’s meeting as his attacks on Tsvangirai and the party ‘have been going on for some time and had reached intolerable levels of disrespect.’‘There are three scenarios I see happening from this outcome. It’s either Mangoma will go through the disciplinary hearing or he’ll fight back and use the court to block any attempts to fire him. Lastly and which is his last option, he’ll walk out and form another party with some of his colleagues involved in the plot,’ Dzamara said.

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As the world celebrated International Women’s Day Saturday activists used the occasion to call for more rights for the women, who they said are still being marginalized. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) demanded ‘legislative reforms’ that will advance the rights of women. A statement from the organization said the government should have the political will to advance equality and non discrimination. International Women’s Day is marked on 8th March every year and the celebrations focus on a range of issues from general respect for women to women’s economic, political and social achievements. This year’s celebrations were held under the theme of ‘Equality for women is progress for all.’ ZLHR said it notes with concern that women continue to ‘suffer social and economic injustices perpetuated by state and non state actors through acts of both commission and omission.’ The lawyers’ organization made particular reference to situations where families have previously had their homes, demolished forcing women and children to spend nights in the cold and the rain. ZLHR also lamented the continued harassment and beating of members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise group, who were last month once again assaulted by the police soon after they had petitioned Parliament. The organization also said women in Hwange were still nursing scars of police assaults after they were ‘bludgeoned’ for peacefully demonstrating against the fact that their husband’s employer had not paid wages. In Bulawayo, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union Regional Women’s Advisory Council secretary, Barbara Tanyanyiwa, called for the establishment of a ‘special court’ to deal with cases of abuse against women and young girls. Tanyanyiwa accused the ZANU PF government of not being committed to the principle of gender equality. She cited cabinet composition to illustrate her point. There are only three women out of 26 cabinet ministers, three out of 13 ministers of state and five out of 24 deputy ministers. President Mugabe provoked fury last year when he claimed that there were ‘not enough women’ to enable him to strike a gender balance in his cabinet announcement, despite the fact that there are a number of women in parliament.

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The chairman of the Mbada Mining firm, Robert Mhlanga, has slammed the auction of Zimbabwe’s diamonds in Europe and said the sales should be stopped. Mhlanga, a close ally and former personal pilot of the Mugabe family, told the parliamentary committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment that Zimbabwe should set up its own diamond exchange to stop revenue losses in commissions paid to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. He made no mention of the mystery revenue losses that have resulted in millions of dollars of diamond profits going missing in Zimbabwe for years. “I have strong reservations about Antwerp because they are our yesteryear enemies. We have actually reeled under sanctions, thanks to Brussels and for us now because they have claimed to have lifted sanctions and we run to them. Personally, I have my own reservations,” Mhlanga said. His comments meanwhile follow his appointment to the Dubai Diamond Exchange Board (DDE), the hub of the diamond trade network in the Middle East. This new appointment follows two additional appointees in 2013 when the DDE added Francis Pedzana Gudyanga, Zimbabwe’s permanent secretary of Mines and Mining Development, and Levy Rapoo, the CEO of the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR) to its board. Peter Meeus, the chairman of DDE’s board, said of the appointments: “The prominence of high profile industry executives on the DDE’s board of directors reflects our truly global status in the diamond trade.”

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The scandal-ridden Harare City Council has announced a massive downsizing exercise which will see ten directors sharing $3million as part of their retrenchment package, along with about 1,000 other workers being paid out. The move comes after revelations that top managers were earning mega-salaries, with a single director taking home a salary that could pay as many as 227 low earning council workers. According to the Herald newspaper, councillor Wellington Chikombo, who chairs the human resources committee, said the outgoing directors were likely to be given a year’s salary each. Chikombo said the exercise, which has seen the council collapsing several departments, will also see the retrenchment of 1,190 workers including 10 middle managers. The new Town House structure will comprise the departments of Corporate Services, Finance, Health, Human Resources and Works. Housing and community services and the Chamber Secretary’s office will now form the corporate services department while engineering services, waste management and urban planning will now fall under the department of works. Harare Residents Trust director Precious Shumba, said the restructuring exercise is more of a ‘panicky reaction’ to allegations of corruption at Town House than it is a well thought out cost-cutting measure. Shumba said: ‘Incompetent directors and workers will just receive a lot of money and leave the local authority with its many problems.’ Shumba said the exercise was also being driven by ‘malice’ with complaints that some people were being targeted for retrenchment because of their outspokenness. Since the revelations on directors’‘corrupt salaries’ public anger has heightened with residents linking poor service delivery in the city to Town House. Last week, the Combined Harare Residents Association reported nine cases of typhoid in the twin suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara and blamed the council of ‘keeping a lid’ on the outbreak. The pressure group said Town House was keen to keep the crisis unreported because it stood to ‘cast light on their corruption and dishonesty.’ Speaking to SW Radio Africa on Monday Shumba said typhoid has ‘never been fully eradicated’ from the twin suburbs. He said as long as the council did not improve the water situation the disease will continue to wreak havoc in the area. Shumba’s comments follow reports that officials at Town House may have swindled part of the $144 million loan meant for the rehabilitation of water and drainage systems. According to reports, officials looted more than $100 million through inflating equipment prices for the loan obtained from China. The council entered into a loan agreement with the Export and Import Bank of China for the refurbishment of water treatment and sewage plants.

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Divisions within the MDC-T further widened this weekend, following comments by the Secretary General Tendai Biti suggesting that their 2013 electoral loss was because ZANU PF had a better message which resonated with the electorate. The comments were made at a policy dialogue for the SAPES Trust on Thursday, and at least ten minutes of his speech was aired on the ZANU PF controlled ZBC-TV, drawing further criticism. “ZANU in the last election had a very simple message, bhora mugedhi, even a little woman in Chendambuya or Dotito just knew one thing, bhora mugedhi,” Biti is quoted as saying, adding that the MDC-T’s message was “perhaps too sophisticated”. This contradicts Biti’s original allegations after the elections, when he insisted there had been massive rigging by ZANU PF. He also helped to produce the MDC-T’s dossier on the elections and was very vocal about electoral fraud that had taken place countrywide. Party leader Morgan Tsvangirai was quick to attack Biti, telling supporters at a rally in Mabvuku on Sunday that the elections were rigged and Biti’s comments should be ignored. The MDC-T deputy national chairman, Morgan Komichi, who spent 100 days in jail after reporting electoral fraud, said the comments were painful. Political analyst Clifford Mashiri said the MDC-T has lost its focus and are failing to address the real bread and butter issues that Zimbabweans are faced with. He added that their internal differences could have been talked over and resolved with a degree of patience. “We would have expected the leadership of the MDC-T to be touring the country’s disturbed and troubled regions. We have images of the people in Tokwe Mukosi sheltering under trees when their tents were washed away. These are the same people they are asking to vote for them,” Mashiri explained. He pointed to urban areas where ratepayers are being deprived of basic services such as waste removal, water and electricity. At the hospitals people are being turned away because there are inadequate supplies of staff and medication. “The MDC-T needs to be addressing these issues which we read about day by day. Sadly they are only at each other’s throats and again it’s because they have lost focus,” Mashiri added, saying that ZANU PF had seized the media opportunity to focus on the infighting, using ZBC. Biti would not be drawn into answering questions when reached by SW Radio Africa on Monday, saying he was attending important meetings. The MDC-T secretary general did not attend the Sunday rally, along with suspended deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma, national executive member Engineer Elias Mudzuri, youth assembly chairperson Solomon Madzore and youth assembly secretary-general Promise Mkwananzi. All five have been linked to calls for new leadership in the party and Mangoma is soon to face an independent disciplinary committee, following recommendations by the National Executive Council which suspended him. “The puppet is gone, now we go for the puppeteer,” MDC-T’s Harare province spokesperson, Obert Gutu, wrote on his Facebook page on Friday, following the party decision to suspend Mangoma. According to the Daily News newspaper, senior aides to party President Morgan Tsvangirai were “beside themselves”, anonymously blasting Biti for praising their political rivals, ZANU PF. Some observers have said these divisions are likely to lead to another split within the MDC-T, leaving ZANU PF to gain as Zimbabweans continue to suffer under the Mugabe regime.

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The Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana will not file any criminal charges against parastatal heads that were paying themselves hefty salaries and perks. This move has been roundly condemned by the opposition MDC-T, with one of its MPs, Settlement Chikwinya, describing it as a ‘game of protection’ by Tomana. Tomana said the CEO’s, who received gross overcompensation for poor performance, had not broken any law in the country. Questions however will be asked if the heads paid any tax to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra). The salary-gate involves a number of cabinet ministers, parastatal bosses and senior government officials. The scandal first broke out when it was revealed that the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) suspended chief executive officer, Happison Muchechetere, was reportedly earning over US$44,000 per month in salaries and allowances. His three general managers, Elliot Kasu, Tazzen Mandizvidza and Allan Chiweshe, were each reportedly taking home over US$26,000 every month. Former Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) boss, Cuthbert Dube, was said to earn US$500 000 a month in salary and allowances, while Harare town clerk Tendai Mahachi, and other council executives, were earning around US$37,000 at a time when the municipality was failing to pay workers and provide essential services In an interview over the weekend, Tomana said while there may be questions on the morality of the remuneration, law enforcement agents could not act because there was no statute which regulates incomes or prices in Zimbabwe. ‘Unfortunately, morals are not laws. Morals can be raw materials that enable you to have certain laws. When a moral pinches you enough it can be raised into a law, but that has not happened.‘In this case, you ask yourself: what has been violated when there is no regulation or law which controls prices and salaries? There is no law which stops people from earning too much. In court they know we cannot punish people for not breaking the law,’ Tomana said. However the MDC-T legislator for Mbizo begged to differ with Tomana, saying the parastatal bosses were guilty of a breach of abuse of authority for self-enrichment. ‘When the CEO’s and parastatal board chairmen signed these perks, they were abusing their positions to steal public money. Tomana, being ZANU P,F found it unattainable to prosecute appointees from ZANU PF,’ charged Chikwinya.

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Current Tourism Minister Saviour Kasukuwere was this weekend accused of ‘lying’ to Robert Mugabe, when he presented a false multi-million dollar cheque to him in 2012. The cheque, which Kasukuwere (then Indigenisation Minister) handed over to Mugabe when the ZANU PF leaders launched the Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Trust, was reportedly worth $50 million. At the time, the money had allegedly been promised by five mining firms operating at the Chiadzwa diamond fields as part of efforts to ensure proceeds from the diamonds benefitted the local communities. The Herald then reported this weekend that the money was never handed over, was never agreed to by the five firms and the cheque given to Mugabe was ‘fake’. The newspaper quoted officials from the firms, who refuted the claims that they agreed to give $10 million each to the Trust. Some officials reportedly said they only pledged $1.5 million each, while others professed complete ignorance of the existence of the Trust. The newspaper also named Minister of State for Manicaland Province, Christopher Mushowe, in the ‘scam’ after he allegedly ordered one of the firms to deposit money into an account he provided, effectively sidestepping the Marange-Zimunya Trust. James Mupfumi, the Acting Director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), told SW Radio Africa that the Trust was never set up with the benefit of the affected villagers in mind. He called it “political grandstanding” with officials and government ministers trying to curry favour with Mugabe.“I am not surprised that the money never materialised. In Marange even the diamond firms and their deals are shrouded in secrecy and the communities were just thrown (in) the dustbin. The ministers were only wanting to please Mugabe,” Mupfumi said. The Herald meanwhile hastened to remove the article from its website shortly after it was published. Editor Caesar Zvayi said on Facebook: “The story had several holes and was erroneously uploaded on the website before it was ready for publication which is why it wasn’t in the Saturday paper. Nothing sinister about the take-down.” Meanwhile, the board of the Marange-Zimunya Trust has faced serious questions from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, particularly regarding the spending of US$45,000 in the last seven months. Although whatever money given to the board is supposed to be spent on community development, the Trustees have admitted spending over US$17,000 on board fees, about US$14,500 on travelling and subsistence and about US$13,000 on training.

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As corporate corruption continues to dominate public debate it has emerged that suspended ZBC finance manager Elliot Kasu was amongst the country’s highest earners. A report in NewsDay said while Kasu was earning a basic salary of $11,000 he also enjoyed ‘several unlimited freebies which could catapult him to the league of the country’s top earners.’ The newspaper said a catalogue of benefits listed in Kasu’s letter of appointment, which was signed by suspended ZBC CEO Happison Muchechetere, is spread over seven A4 sheets. Both Kasu and Muchechetere were suspended towards the end of last year which is when the issue of corporate corruption entered the public domain. According to the report Kasu was entitled to a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle which he could retain on leaving the company. He was also entitled to an up-market executive housing allowance at prevailing rates while the employer would pay 50% of his mortgage. The company would also pay Kasu’s home utility bills for water, rates and electricity. Other benefits included 100 percent school fees for three children or direct family dependants for local education, 100 percent higher education fees in the Sadc region for two children or direct family dependants and a similar percentage of fees for personal studies. Kasu was also entitled to a pension scheme borne by the ZBC while his entire family was entitled to non-contributory medical aid and an executive funeral policy package. The Kasus were also entitled to free business class flights. Also included in the benefits package were the costs of two domestic workers, free gym subscriptions, club membership, two mobile phones, two contract lines, home landline, a laptop, annual DStv subscriptions, a radio, a TV set, a generator, unlimited fuel and 24 hour security. The MDC-T MP for Mabvuku, James Maridadi, said the issue of corrupt salaries at the national broadcaster was just the tip of an iceberg. Maridadi, who is also a member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on media, urged President Mugabe to initiate a ‘clear strategy’ to deal with graft across the board. He said: ‘I think there is enough information and evidence already and what we now need is the President to act. We as the legislators have done our duty as have the members of the press. We now need leadership.’ Maridadi said while there might be no legal case against the recipients of the high salaries the government must act on the basis of the ‘immorality’ of such salaries. He said: ‘Just the public outrage is enough proof that there is everything immoral about these salaries.’ Maridadi’s comments come days after Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana said executives who earned the so called ‘obscene salaries’ had not broken any law in the country.

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A number of emissaries, including academic Ibbo Mandaza, have been roped in to diffuse the political turmoil within the MDC-T, whose infighting has moved beyond sparring. Infighting has been prevalent in the main opposition party since its suspended deputy secretary-general, Elton Mangoma, wrote a letter to party leader Morgan Tsvangirai asking him to step down. The letter created tension and produced some notable casualties like Mangoma himself. Tapiwa Mashakada, the MP for Hatfield in the capital, was appointed the acting treasurer-general in place of Mangoma during Tuesday’s standing committee meeting. Proxies fighting on behalf of the former MP and businessman were caught up in the fight, amid fears the problems would eventually lead to the movement’s split. Things got worse on Friday when Secretary General Tendai Biti convened a hastily arranged press conference after the national council endorsed Mangoma’s suspension, and appeared to rebuke it. He claimed the decision to suspend Mangoma was a nullity, further inflaming the fractious situation in the MDC-T. There have been significant moves by the various emissaries to prevent the party from splitting. Mandaza, a political analyst and director of the Harare based think-tank Sapes Trust, was reportedly engaged for his influence over both Tsvangirai and Biti. Political commentator Pedzisai Ruhanya said following the infighting of the last few weeks, it was time for all sides to sit down and work out their differences in peace, using rational discourse. Promise Mkwananzi, the Youth Assembly secretary-general, and an ally of both Mangoma and Biti, told SW Radio Africa’s Speak out Padare program that if people disagree, it does not mean they’ve lost loyalty to each other. Asked if it was possible for him to work again with Tsvangirai, given that he was linked to the group calling for his ouster, the youth leader dismissed suggestions that he was not loyal to the party and its leader. ‘It’s just a difference of the manner we see things and the way we must take things forward,’ he said, blaming individuals and the media for ‘sensationalizing and personalizing’ the infighting. Mkwananzi said there is no doubt there is a case against Mangoma, but he was against the way the party was selectively applying laws to punish others, and while not taking action against some who have done worse things. ‘The laws of the party must apply uniformly. We’ve had so many people who have put the party’s name into disrepute by utterances in newspapers and utterances on Facebook. There are people who have committed acts of violence against leaders of the party and nothing has been done to those people,’ complained Mkwananzi. Discussing the suspension of Mangoma on the same program with Mkwananzi, national council member Charlton Hwende, a Tsvangirai loyalist, said the party took the correct decision in suspending the deputy treasurer-general. ‘People were hiding behind the word democracy to denigrate Tsvangirai and the party, thinking that they were untouchable as they had the democratic right to express themselves. It turned out later that it was not a case of their rights being suppressed but lack of discipline.‘There is no way you can run a party without discipline. We want each and every member of the party to respect all the institutions of the MDC, from the President, standing committee, national council and national executive, right down to the grassroots structures. If they fail to respect these institutions then there will be anarchy in the party,’ Hwende added.

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The chairman of the Mbada diamond mining firm has contradicted claims by government ministers that profits from the sales of the gems were not reaching the Treasury. Robert Mhlanga, a close ally of the Mugabe family, told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, that the company has realised over US$1 billion in diamond revenues since it began operations at the Chiadzwa alluvial fields. He said 75% of that was paid into the national treasury, with the parastatal Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) being the major shareholder in the joint venture operation. “Mbada Diamonds has contributed 75% of the revenue in the fiscus. During the crisis over civil servants’ salaries, Mbada was contributing $15 to $20 million a week to the fiscus,” Mhlanga said. This is a serious contradiction of the claims made previously by government ministers that the diamonds were not benefitting the state in anyway. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said late last year out of a targeted $40 million expected from diamond sales in 2013, nothing had been received. Chinamasa’s predecessor, Tendai Biti, meanwhile repeatedly stated during his tenure that no money was forthcoming from the diamond mining firms. The country’s Vice President Joice Mujuru has also said she is “concerned” by the lack of revenue being generated by the diamond sector, an issue that has clouded the sector since 2008. Billions of dollars are thought to have gone ‘missing’ as a result of illicit sales, smuggling and corruption. Human rights groups have previously speculated that the money was being used to fund a ‘parallel’ government, to keep the ZANU PF regime afloat.

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Family members of some of the Zimbabweans who died in a disused gold mine in South Africa last month have expressed fears that more bodies are still trapped underground. At least 23 Zimbabweans died at the abandoned mine near Roodepoort alongside several other foreigners two weeks ago, shortly after it emerged that scores of miners were trapped underground. 30 people were brought up safely by official rescue teams. But the rescue efforts were soon halted because of the threats of dangerous gasses and unstable conditions. Relatives and friends of the trapped miners soon stepped in and risked going down the mines to retrieve the bodies themselves, using basic equipment like hammers and chisels to get through the earth. The bodies were slowly brought above ground, wrapped in plastic mealie-meal sacks and showing signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Mohamed Motala, a social justice campaigner with the South Africa based Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE), expressed concern that more bodies could remain in the mine. He said in a recent article that“nobody knows the actual number of men and women still trapped or dead underground because the work they do is considered illegal. So the authorities simply have no proper records of the numbers of people involved.” Motala told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that there is a “deafening silence” from the authorities in South Africa because the illegal miners are not considered important enough.“Our constitution covers all who work and live in South Africa so these poor, black Zimbabweans have access to clinics and so on, and so they should also have access to rescue. This situation is a contradiction in how this country’s constitution is interpreted and it is worse than inexcusable,” Motala said. One relative of a deceased miner meanwhile was quoted by local media recently as saying that she was ‘happy’ that her 18 year old brother’s body had been found. But she expressed concern about the fate of five other family members who had not surfaced, and whose bodies had not been recovered. Another man who was involved in operations to retrieve the bodies was also quoted this week as saying that many more bodies were left trapped underground. Nkulumane Ncube, brother to two of the deceased, was quoted by the Chronicle newspaper as saying that the South African officials planned to seal the mine with all the bodies inside, as they could not take risks for illegal miners. The final count of the bodies retrieved was 27, with the majority being Zimbabwean citizens who were repatriated back to Zimbabwe over the weekend. A somber crowd of mourners met the convoy of coffins just outside Bulawayo on Saturday. Among them was MDC-T MP Tabitha Khumalo who said the incident was “heartbreaking.”“It is so heartbreaking. We raise our kids right and then the Zimbabwean government denies our kids the right to lives and livelihoods,” Khumalo said. She added: “The government of Zimbabwe has literally sentenced the next generation to death. This country ten or twenty years down the line, will have a generation gap.” Reason Ngwenya from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) meanwhile said it was an indictment of the labour situation in Zimbabwe, with no jobs available for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed. He expressed sadness and disappointment that the riches of South Africa are luring Zimbabweans to illegality, when their home is so abundant in natural resources. ZAPU President Dumiso Dabengwa also expressed sadness about the situation. “It’s all of us to blame. It reflects our service delivery as a people, as a government, as a nation, that if we can frustrate our people to the extent that they leave their country to find jobs and find themselves tempted to engage in illegal activities in a foreign country, that reflects on all of us,” Dabengwa said.

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Embattled Harare Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi, this week appeared before Parliament where he failed to justify his salary of $13,000, which he claims was approved by the government and the mayor. Reports said Mahachi and other Harare municipal directors were quizzed by the parliamentary portfolio committee on local government, but legislators were not impressed with the documentation presented to them. A Daily News report quoted committee member and MDC-T MP Webster Maondera, saying the documents presented by Mahachi and his colleagues ‘don’t show anything we want to know.’ Maondera said the committee wanted to know whether the allowances Mahachi was getting were approved by the council. The legislators queried Mahachi’s entertainment allowance of $1,400 asking him to account for it. Mahachi claimed that he entertained a Chinese delegation whom he took out for dinner in expensive restaurants. According to the report, the committee rejected the salary schedule of directors that Mahachi produced, saying it was ‘not in sync’ with the service the council was providing to the rate payers. Asked why he does not consider resigning, Mahachi said he was a ‘hard worker’ claiming that he improved refuse collection in the city and brought water to the poor suburb of Mabvuku. However, Mabvuku residents expressed ‘anger and dismay’ at Mahachi’s claims. Community rights activist Reuben Akili said some areas in Mabvuku have been without water for more than 10 years. An irate Akili said: ‘It is provocative for Mahachi to say this. He has failed us and is stealing our money too. He can’t then claim that he is doing a good job.’ He added: ‘People are suffering from diarrhoeal related diseases and everywhere you go there are piles and piles of garbage. If you ask Mahachi himself when he last visited Mabvuku, he will tell you that he doesn’t know and so how can he claim to have brought water to us?’ Akili’s comments come a week after pressure groups reported nine cases of typhoid in the twin suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara and blamed the council of ‘keeping a lid’ on the outbreak. Activists said Town House feared that the outbreak of typhoid would bring attention on their corruption and incompetence. Other recent reports have said Town House may have swindled part of the $144 million Chinese loan meant for the rehabilitation of water and drainage systems. In January SW Radio Africa reported how the council had fleeced medical aid subscriptions amounting to $6 million. The report said the council had gone for two years without remitting subscriptions to the Harare Municipality Medical Aid Society. As a result some workers were failing to access treatment, despite the fact that subscriptions were being deducted from their salaries. Mahachi was suspended earlier this year following reports that he and his colleagues were earning ‘obscene salaries’ but local government minister Ignatius Chombo ordered the council to reinstate him. Last month Mahachi told the parliamentary committee that the salaries were approved by both the government and Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni.

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Zimbabwe’s land ownership system is being blamed for the ongoing unrest on farms across the country, with no guarantees of property rights or reliable title deeds to determine who owns what. Most recently, a row has erupted over the ownership of a Mazowe farm where former farm workers who lost jobs during the land grab campaign, had been resettled. The property, Bloomfield farm, has reportedly been eyed out by a senior Air Force officer identified as P. Kazingizi, who has been attempting to evict the former farm workers living there. According to the NewsDay newspaper, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs deputy Minister Fortune Chasi, the ZANU PF MP for the area, has blocked the move. In written correspondence between Chasi and the Air Force litigation head Albert Murove, Chasi claimed that the Force was responsible for beatings and assaults of the workers on the farm. Chasi reportedly accused Air Force officials of assaulting the settlers, firing guns and intimidating civilians by pointing guns at them, all in an effort to force them to leave the farm. “As indicated in my conversation with you this morning, your, Mr Kazingizi, emboldened by your letter, tried to coerce the police at Mazowe to effect the eviction and when that failed, he commandeered five soldiers who assaulted occupants of that piece of land,” Chasi claimed in the letter.“Shots were fired and guns pointed at innocent civilians including a 12-year-old who was chased by Kazingizi at gunpoint. This is the second time I am informed, he has brought violent solders to the farm.” NewsDay reported that Murove dismissed Chasi’s claims that the matter was never reported to the police. He added that the Air Force would proceed to issue eviction summons “regardless of any extra-legal or extra-judicial intervention on their behalf, irrespective of which office or who they approach or use”. Independent economist John Robertson told SW Radio Africa that these kinds of incidents were indicative of the ‘chaos’ the land grab campaign has left in its wake, with no respect for property rights or value in title deeds. He said the damage to property rights in Zimbabwe meant the country was still “sliding backwards.”“The problems will not go away while the level of indiscipline and breakdown of the structures that govern this remains. It seems people can bribe their way into deeds offices and get documents saying they own properties. The structures of these institutions have been so badly damaged that is very difficult to go to court to get this sorted out,” Robertson explained. He warned that it is the long term investment future of the country that ultimately suffers, with a lack of confidence stopping development in any sector. “It means that job creation and the ability of the country to produce goods that might become exports stops happening. And this is what we have seen here for many years. Our productive sector has shrunk to a very low level, formal employment is down to the figure achieve in 1970, so we’ve gone backwards,” Robertson said. He added: “We have seen this shrinkage because of the damage done to property rights… because the confidence is no longer there, the country is slipping backwards at a very fast rate.”

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Two volunteers working with the rights group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) were arrested on Wednesday, while attending a media training workshop in Harare. The police arrested Natasha Dowell and Tawanda Maguze at Bronte Hotel in the capital and detained them at Harare Central police station. The two were attending the workshop organised by GALZ, which focused on using social media and media tools. Dowell, a local activist and advocate for homosexual rights, was the only one charged by the police for allegedly convening an ‘unauthorised’ meeting. Her lawyer, Tonderai Bhatasara, told SW Radio Africa that she was charged with contravening a section of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), with the police claiming she should have first sought ‘permission’ from the force. Maguze was profiled by the police before being released without charge. Dowell has denied the charges laid against her, and insisted that her organisation was exempt from complying with the provisions of POSA. “She was released after charges were pressed against her. The police indicated that they will proceed by way of summons if they intend to pursue the matter,” Bhatasara said. POSA has for years been used by the ZANU PF government and the party loyal police force to crack down on any individual or organisation deemed to be a ‘threat’. As such human rights groups, activists, opposition politicians and ordinary individuals have all been charged under POSA, which many activists have said must be repealed. The reforming of the law is one of the many outstanding issues left over from the time of the unity government, despite the reforms being promised as part of a roadmap towards fresh elections. The elections took place regardless, without any meaningful reforms, supporting widespread claims that the polls were illegitimate.

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Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai seems to have overcome a bid to oust him by his lieutenants and has vowed the party he helped form will not split again. Following a turbulent month that saw his deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma author a letter asking him to step down, culminating in his suspension on Friday last week, there were indications the fissures in the party would result in yet another split. But bolstered by the support he has received from all the 12 party provinces, Tsvangirai has assured supporters that despite the current disagreements the party remains intact. On Tuesday he met his secretary-general Tendai Biti for the first time since Friday, following a major fall out triggered by the party’s decision to suspend Mangoma, a decision that irked the former Finance Minister. Party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora confirmed that Biti and Tsvangirai met at the standing committee meeting and engaged in a constructive discussion on how to move the party forward. ‘There was no animosity between the two; there is no appetite for grudges in the party. What was said and done is now history and the focus now on restructuring the party,’ said Mwonzora. SW Radio Africa is reliably informed the party will have a press conference on Thursday where it is expected to unveil some members who have rejoined the party, having left in 2005. One of them is Job Sikhala, the MDC99 President who was the MDC MP for St Mary’s before the split. Another figure is Esaph Mdlongwa who was the organising secretary for the MDC and Joubert Mudzumwe, the MDC-N chairman for Masvingo province. Other names being mentioned include Mavambo/Kusile leader Dr Simba Makoni and Paul Themba Nyati, the former MDC spokesman. United States based political analyst Dr Maxwell Shumba told our Hidden Story program on Wednesday that the survival of the MDC-T depended on Tsvangirai’s skills to unite the party following the factional crisis.‘The shake-up from this crisis should be used as a wakeup call by the leaders in the party to sit down and look at the bigger picture. The party is about the party and not individuals. The MDC was formed to be an alternative to ZANU PF but that is currently not happening. The infighting is disheartening to many people who put all their energy plus resources to ensure there was going to be a new government after the 2013 elections,’ said Shumba. The analyst said instead of going back to the drawing board and looking at the failures from 2013 and charting the way forward, the party was now in a destructive mode that needed to be stopped, before it was too late.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Parliamentary speaker Jacob Mudenda has warned the MDC-T MP for Mbizo in KweKwe, Settlement Chikwinya, that he could be charged with contempt of Parliament over his remarks last week that debate on corruption had been watered down. Mudenda told legislators on Tuesday that Chikwinya’s allegations that the motion on corruption introduced last week by Willias Madzimure, the MP for Kambuzuma, had been tampered with were disrespectful of the Speaker’s chair. During debate last week the Mbizo MP alleged that Zimra boss Gershem Pasi was one of the country’s top earners at $310,000 per month, adding that Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma needed to be investigated as he was allegedly enjoying a luxurious lifestyle at the expense of MPs who were representatives of the people. Mudenda castigated Chikwinya for abusing his parliamentary immunities and privileges by making such remarks. Contacted for commented Chikwinya said he was surprised the speaker is not concentrating on the objective of the motion, which is to deal with corruption once and for all. The youthful MP told SW Radio Africa that Mudenda was dealing with procedural matters and yet the objective is to get to the bottom of how the country has been swindled and prejudiced by corrupt individuals. ‘I want to stand guilty in terms of proving how I went wrong in bringing about corrupt activities—not to stand guilty of defying an order that seeks to bring to the public attention issues that are bringing down our country,’ a defiant Chinkwanya said. The MP said he viewed Mudenda’s order ‘as an order which is protecting individuals that are close to the person who has given that order.’ He added: ‘I view that order as an order which is stifling my democratic right of representation. But I’m not worried and not moved by such statements, I gladly await to stand before any committee that wants to investigate me.’